The present invention relates generally to anthropomorphic dummies, and, more specifically, to anthropomorphic dummies for use in motor vehicle crash testing.
Anthropomorphic dummies containing sensing and recording devices have long been used in research directed toward reducing injuries suffered in motor vehicle crashes. Early research efforts dealt chiefly with injuries suffered in frontal crashes, but recently, research efforts have also been directed at improving the safety of vehicles involved in lateral or oblique angle crashes.
The dummies used in frontal crash testing have not proved completely satisfactory for use in research relating to lateral crashes, because such dummies generally do not react in lateral crashes as do human bodies. Thus, their measuring devices record accelerations and force loads which are unrepresentative of the accelerations and forces a human body would experience in similar crashes. Furthermore, the forces to be monitored in lateral crashes differ from those monitored in frontal crashes. Studies of frontal crashes are generally concerned with the energy-absorbing capacity of the vehicle, itself, and with the effect on the occupants of passenger restraints and protective padding. Studies of lateral crashes, on the other hand, are concerned with inward buckling of the vehicle doors or interior walls, cushioning effects of padding on the door, and cutting or penetrating effects that sharp edges might have on the occupants.
Typical early dummies included shoulders with metal-to-metal connections for coupling the arms to a thoracic spine, on which testing instruments are normally mounted. Such shoulders transmit forces during lateral crash testing that are not representative of the forces which a human body, having resilient members, would experience. Furthermore, such rigid metal shoulders do not accurately model the movements which a human shoulder exhibits in response to lateral forces on the arm or shoulder. Dummies without shoulders have been developed in an attempt to eliminate the problems with shoulders noted above, but, unfortunately, such shoulderless dummies cannot be used in tests in which shoulder harness seat belts are required.
Other problems experienced when typical early dummies are used in lateral crash testing relate to the metallic arm skeletons used in such dummies. While such metallic arms are generally satisfactory for frontal crash testing, they tend to penetrate and deform the protective padding on the vehicle's interior walls or doors when used in lateral crash testing, thus providing an inaccurate indication of the effectiveness of such padding.
Thus, there has developed a need for an improved anthropomorphic dummy for use in lateral crash testing of motor vehicles, wherein the dummy can better simulate the movement of a human shoulder and arm when exposed to forces arising in a lateral automobile crash. The present invention fulfills this need.